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Not “Just” Lunch: Easy 10-Minute Salad

My goal, not just this year but for the rest of my life, is to treat myself with care, compassion, and love. I sometime wonder why so many of us, myself included, are overly critical of ourselves. Is it nature or nurture? Well, I suppose it’s the latter because I don’t believe that we are born with the preconceived notion that we’re not good enough. But as we go through life, we encounter obstacles that make us falsely believe that we are indeed not worthy of wonderful things in the world, like happiness, love, or in my case, good food.

I noticed that when I’m feeling crappy, I eat crappy food (whoever first said “you are what you eat” is a genius). I think feeding myself with junks like fat- and chemical-laden, artificial “food” has always been my subconscious attempt to convince myself that I’m not worthy of good things, as if depriving myself of healthy nourishment that feed my body and soul is the way of punishment. I am now convinced that junk food consumption is a display of self-hatred, and in order for me to start accepting myself for who I am, I needed to begin the journey with the commitment to eating delicious, nurturing, whole food … and I can definitely do that!

My first step is to eliminate the word, “just,” when describing meals. Instead of saying “oh, it’s just lunch,” and eat sub-par food, I made a commitment to take time to prepare and / or pack a thoughtful meal. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant — simply good, natural, delicious food.

I learned that good food doesn’t have to take much time and effort to prepare. (I’m serious about this. I used to say I have no time to do anything, but the truth of the matter is that I did have time, and had plenty of it. I just chose to spend it elsewhere, that’s all.) It’s as easy as chopping vegetables and boiling water. Today for lunch, I prepared a Salad Nicoise-esque dish with all the leftover food I had in the fridge. The salad has string beans sautéed with olive oil and lemon juice, boiled red potatoes, hard-boiled egg, and shrimp (the frozen shrimp is a little pricey but is such a good investment and they last forever in a freezer), dressed in homemade Italian dressing of olive oil, mustard, garlic, rice vinegar, and salt and pepper. It only took about 10 minutes to prepare and the result is one satisfying, delicious lunch. The plate is big enough to feed two, unless you’re super hungry, like I was today.

And this time, instead of saying that this lunch is just for me, I’m going to boast that is IS for me, and be truly thankful for the wonderful, gastronomic offerings the world has blessed me with today! I feel really refreshed now and energized to take on the rest of the day!